tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post442835901088456034..comments2015-03-30T13:35:24.273-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: Online Family Trees and Identity Theft -- Fiction or Fact?James Tannerhttps://plus.google.com/111292106004869462088noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-11735412897377378892015-03-02T07:28:46.246-07:002015-03-02T07:28:46.246-07:00For a response to this question, look for my most ...For a response to this question, look for my most recent posts. Thanks for asking. James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-2016580482850994722015-03-02T07:01:39.115-07:002015-03-02T07:01:39.115-07:00Correct me if I&#39;m wrong because I also worry a...Correct me if I&#39;m wrong because I also worry about this but have decided to use online genealogy , if someone really wants to get your identity its not that hard all they have to do is what everyone searching for their roots do and look up cencus records, birth records, obituaries, etc old newspapers wedding and birth announcements etc. Is there really anyway to keep information from ending up on line and if you don&#39;t put your information up whats to stop a family member also working on family tree? In order to use your information to get into your bank they would have to know were you bank first and you don&#39;t put that information on genealogy trees I can see someone maybe trying to open a new account with some of information you share but they would still need a social security number for that wouldn&#39;t they and that is not something you&#39;d post on your tree,Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-68903117161320738312014-12-09T15:08:00.181-07:002014-12-09T15:08:00.181-07:00If you followed your position to its logical or il...If you followed your position to its logical or illogical conclusion, you would stay off line entirely. Since you signed in as anonymous, I would assume you are in the category of those that believe that position. Perhaps you can enlighten me and my readers with one example of someone being convicted of identity theft where the theft was facilitated by using an online family tree.James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-86693972531292761522014-12-09T10:41:19.848-07:002014-12-09T10:41:19.848-07:00It is sad that there are people out on the interne...It is sad that there are people out on the internet like you that completely mislead people into believing that there information is safe. The fact is that the more information that can be sourced for a particular individual the easier it is to steal their identity. It does no mater the opinion that you have on the definition. THE THIEVES DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK. I bet that they benefit more from this article than any unsuspecting person that takes your opinion as fact. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-51380809591616045582014-05-26T21:06:07.613-07:002014-05-26T21:06:07.613-07:00Nice story. But it doesn&#39;t have anything to do...Nice story. But it doesn&#39;t have anything to do with posting your information online as a genealogist. I also notice that you do not cite any specifics about the incident that would allow someone to verify if it happened or not. How did the girl &quot;notice that her identity is stolen?&quot; This story sounds like a confusion of two different types of fraud, not an actual incident. James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-74811794317943136312014-05-26T20:34:39.104-07:002014-05-26T20:34:39.104-07:00Identity thefts have now appeared in our sights ve...Identity thefts have now appeared in our sights very often. Since technology has been advanced by time, different ways of identity stealing have appeared. One of the ways that’s used commonly is that they will become your friend. Those thefts could first pretend to be your friend. Then they will chat with you and become good friends with you. At last they will take away your personal information and then at last you realize that he/she’s just imaginary. At the same time you don’t know that if your friend stole your identity or someone else stole your friend’s account and did that. You need to know that not everyone and everything on the internet is reliable. People usually get tricked by people that they trust the most because no one knows that what he/she is actually thinking about. For example in one short clip in YouTube, there’s a girl that found a friend randomly. In his profile picture that boy is really handsome so she decided to add him. They became very good friends. And one day they decided to meet each other. At the day that they meet, the girl arrived very early but no sign of the boy have come. She waited for hours and at last went back home. When she went back home, she noticed that her identity is stolen while she went outside. She told the police about this. At last the police figured out that that boy was actually a 32 year old man. He is an identity theft. His profile picture was actually a picture that was found in google images. The same thing also appears in movie Identity Thief.Jarhttp://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2014/02/online-family-trees-and-identity-theft.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-60864043958312842802014-05-18T13:50:27.877-07:002014-05-18T13:50:27.877-07:00I didn&#39;t intend to change your opinion. Do you...I didn&#39;t intend to change your opinion. Do you have any statistics involving the number of criminal convictions for violations of cyber-security? I guess my question is, if my bank gets hacked how does not putting my genealogy online help to prevent that? I am certain that cyber-security is a big issue, but it is not something that I personally have control over. If Amazon or whomever is hacked, what can I do personally to stop that?James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-61660314404894413462014-05-18T13:44:23.321-07:002014-05-18T13:44:23.321-07:00You haven&#39;t changed my opinion. I think you&#...You haven&#39;t changed my opinion. I think you&#39;re biased anyway. The security expert summed it up very well. You&#39;re just being obtuse.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-90178028611342983692014-05-14T14:19:20.202-07:002014-05-14T14:19:20.202-07:00Interesting, but not on point. Cyber-security may ...Interesting, but not on point. Cyber-security may be an issue, but it is not what is being reported as &quot;Identity Theft.&quot; I am looking a FBI, Department of Justice and other statistics concerning identity theft. Interesting also that you post as Anonymous. James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-43649685357808042842014-05-14T12:45:49.687-07:002014-05-14T12:45:49.687-07:00James -
First time reader, first time commenting...James - <br /><br />First time reader, first time commenting. <br /><br />I would share this as someone who completely disagrees with you and also works in cyber security. <br /><br />I can tell you:<br /><br />any person who has their birth date and other informaiton (mother&#39;s maiden name, etc.) posted online has greatly increased risk<br /><br />the problem of cyber secutiry is real, rapidly evolving, and far worse than even concerned people suspect<br /><br />the public infrastructure and coordination required to fight the problem (police, governments, FBI, etc.) barely exists <br /><br />the government has warned corporations that their entire network has already been hacked by the Chinese (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/richard-clarke-china-has-hacked-every-major-us-company/11125)<br /><br />every major bank in the country has sent out multiple fraudulent wires for multiple thousands of dollars each this week alone, as they do every week<br /><br />you will never find birth date or mother&#39;s maiden name for anyone in cyber. in fact, most will not have any online identity (no facebook, no yahoo mail, no gmail, no blogs)<br /><br />I would challenge you to find someone in cyber security at a major bank, fortune 100, or in the defense sector that disagrees with me. <br /><br />In summary, I&#39;m not sure that a Russian hacker hoping to encourage people to leave valuable morsels online could have written a better blog post than what you pulled off.<br /><br />Pozdravlyayu?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-88237356382122759292014-02-24T14:51:42.168-07:002014-02-24T14:51:42.168-07:00I have heard people say they won&#39;t put a pictu...I have heard people say they won&#39;t put a picture of a tombstone on Find A Grave (without cropping it first) if it has a name of the spouse that is not deceased yet. There is a Boogie man behind every stone.Nicholas Kayharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05518890375693422685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-72178557509739134302014-02-24T14:05:57.776-07:002014-02-24T14:05:57.776-07:00There are quite a few descriptive words I could us...There are quite a few descriptive words I could use to describe bank and password practices that use genealogical relationships. I am still being asked my grandfather;s first name for example as a &quot;security&quot; question. This is no reason however to avoid family trees, the information is readily available elsewhere. James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-72943396504255550882014-02-24T11:46:26.833-07:002014-02-24T11:46:26.833-07:00It&#39;s good to look at what &quot;identify theft...It&#39;s good to look at what &quot;identify theft&quot; really is, James, but I wonder if you&#39;re missing a very common instance for which genealogical data could be useful.<br /><br />Most cases that I&#39;m aware of involve someone&#39;s online account being hacked by someone who has worked out their passwords, &quot;special information&quot; phrase, place-of-birth, mother&#39;s maiden name, etc. Banks used to ask the daftest - and easiest - questions once, but they seem to be tightening things up now. However, most people&#39;s passwords are still based on given names (esp. children&#39;s), maiden names, dates of birth, and pet&#39;s names.Tony Proctorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18330460400737261264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-41374153457140814122014-02-23T20:38:16.864-07:002014-02-23T20:38:16.864-07:00Thank you for the excellent article. I&#39;m going...Thank you for the excellent article. I&#39;m going to refer people to it every time I hear them incorrectly use that phrase with genealogy! Learning who my ancestors are is a far cry from stealing my identity. I often think of people who put things online and then want to maintain privacy too. We had little privacy when the phone books listed our name, address, and phone number. Becky Jamisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841947942442007031noreply@blogger.com